How Vanderbilt basketball, Jerry Stackhouse went from beating Kentucky to giving up 109
Jerry Stackhouse crumpled the postgame stats sheet in his hands.
"This is one of those were you just," he said, then crumpled the sheet, "forget about it."
"It" was the latest embarrassment in Vanderbilt basketball's 2023-24 season, a 109-77 loss to Kentucky. Vanderbilt allowed its most points since 1996, when it gave up 120 to the Wildcats.
The Commodores (6-16, 1-7 SEC) won't match Bryce Drew's ignominious record of a winless SEC season after beating Missouri on Saturday, but that's about the only charitable thing that can be said at this point about the state of the program in Stackhouse's fifth season. The Kentucky result was just another example, in a season full of them, of how hard this program has fallen.
"(Kentucky) was probably just more talented than we are. We have to do a lot of things right to beat that team," Stackhouse said. "And we didn't do it."
The Wildcats shot 55% from the field and 58% from three, grabbed 50 rebounds and 18 offensive rebounds and amassed 15 3-pointers and 12 dunks. This defensive performance from a team that already has a loss to Presbyterian on its resume and dropped below Louisville to be the second-worst high-major team on KenPom.
If this were Stackhouse's first or even second season, that would be one thing. But Vanderbilt beat Kentucky last year − twice, neither time at home. Tuesday's result showed that this program hasn't just regressed, it's fallen off a cliff. Talent can no longer be an excuse in Year Five.
"We've had some pieces that are on par to play with that type of team but the older guys aren't here with us anymore," Stackhouse said. "We have kind of started over with the younger guys and a couple other guys. Tyrin (Lawrence) has some experience, but a lot of the guys we're rolling out there are a little bit younger, probably not the 5-star talent that they got. I like our talent, I like our guys, but none of them are on the draft boards. Probably a couple of those guys are, I guess. We got a little bit a little bit of catching up to do when you're talking about comparing programs that we can't really compare ourselves to, 25 years of excellence producing pro talent."
Of the players who were active for Tuesday's game for the Commodores, only one − Ven-Allen Lubin − was rated as even a 4-star recruit out of high school. (Lawrence was considered a 4-star recruit when he went in the transfer portal last spring before withdrawing.) Lee Dort and Colin Smith were 4-stars, too, but Smith is out for the season because of an injury and Dort is suspended after being accused of assault.
As much as Stackhouse has struggled in recruiting, though, the loss went beyond just that. Vanderbilt was outrebounded, 50-28. The Commodores didn't do any of the "little things" well. Just days ago, after Vanderbilt beat Missouri to get its first SEC win of the season, Stackhouse said the team hoped it could be a catalyst for the rest of the season. The team on the court against the Wildcats didn't look like one invigorated by a win.
Whether it was talent, coaching, getting hot at the right time or some combination of all three, this was a team that beat Kentucky two out of three just a year ago. Now, it looks like a team that doesn't belong on the same court. That's as much an indictment of the program's direction under Stackhouse as any.
ESTES Vanderbilt doesn't want to fire Jerry Stackhouse, but it may not have a choice | Estes
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball's loss to Kentucky was Stackhouse indictment
